Many abused babies 'hurt again'

It may not always be best to place children back with their families

One in three babies who are returned to their families after suffering abuse are harmed again, a study suggests.

Researchers at Cardiff and Keele Universities said their findings showed child protection teams were not doing enough to protect young children.

The findings, published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, have prompted calls for a review of current policies.

"We have a duty to ensure that the safeguards are rigorous," said Tory spokeswoman Theresa May.

Repeated abuse

Researchers identified 69 babies who had been abused before they were 12 months old, using data from paediatricians and child protection registers in Wales.

These children were monitored between 1999 and 2001, using information from health and social services.

People working hard to prevent children being abused have been vilified Dr Martin Ward-Platt, deputy editor of Archives of Disease in Childhood

Five babies died from their abuse and one child went abroad and could not be traced.

Fourteen were permanently removed from their homes, although one was re-abused during a contact visit.

Of the remaining 49 babies who were allowed to return home to their natural family after child protection investigations, 15 were abused again within three years.

Eight experienced physical abuse, including one who suffered a fractured thigh bone, and seven neglect.

The researchers say this is a much higher rate than would be seen in the general population.

Twelve of the 15 babies were subjected to further abuse, when they were allowed to return home once more.

Three children were abused again, in one case, making a total of five times for that child.

Siblings of the 69 children were also studied. Thirty nine of them had already been abused.

It was found that babies coming from families with a history of domestic violence and mental illness were more likely to be abused.

'Last resort'

Writing in the journal, the researchers led by Dr Alison Kemp. said: "All this represents a serious failure in secondary prevention in babies where the consequences can be death and disability.

"We must focus child protection services more on actually protecting babies and be more cautious where intervention involves their reintroduction to their families."

Dr Martin Ward-Platt, deputy editor of Archives of Disease in Childhood and a Newcastle-based paediatrician, told BBC News Online the study was in line with the incidence of abuse he had seen during his career.

He suggested it meant Children's Act, which governs how decisions on where abused children should live, is made should be reassessed and perhaps even redrafted.

"Children's interests are paramount, but the Act intimates that, as a general principal, separation from a child's natural family should be a last resort."

But Dr Ward-Platt said there had been a number of high-profile cases, such as that of Victoria Climbie, where children had remained in abusive situations with fatal consequences.

He said cases like that were likely to be the "tip of the iceberg". "There is likely to be a lot of child misery going on under the surface."

Dr Ward-Platt said there was a public perception that "over-zealous" social workers and doctors were recommending children should be removed from innocent families.

He added: "People working hard to prevent children being abused have been vilified, and this has pushed a lot of paediatricians away from doing child protection work."

But he said: "This study redresses the balance. There has been a serious distortion in one direction and this is pushing it in the other."

Lack of resources

Ian Johnston, director of the British Association of Social Workers, said: "Our aim is to keep children with their natural families - where it is possible to do so safely."

But he admitted the work of child protection teams could be improved. "With the best will in the world, it is not all we would like it to be.

"Social workers would like to do more, but they don't have the resources to do it."

However he said taking children away from families was not always the answer.

"If you took all children away from their parents, you would stop these recurrences. But what proportion of children would be subjected to abuse elsewhere?"